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Ask HN: How to start a public identity from scratch in late 2022?

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11–16 of 16 posts

Re: Ask HN: How to start a public identity from scratch in late 2022?

#11
Just pick one and start posting. It doesn’t matter where you start, it’ll take 100 posts/videos/presentations/whatever before you’re decent enough for people to pay attention anyway.

I went to 2-3 open mic comedy nights a week last year just focusing on developing the craft of presenting. On top of that I started teaching free engineering workshops and filming them. Its been about a year and I’m still in the “Just throw stuff at the wall” phase. I don’t have much “clout” but its been a lot of fun and my craft is 10x better than last year

Re: Ask HN: How to start a public identity from scratch in late 2022?

#12
post #9

Go to your city council meetings and volunteer with your local homeless services providers. Write regularly to your local newspapers if there are any, and be active on Nextdoor. Go to local events like parades, markets and festivals and make sure you introduce yourself to local business owners and other community leaders. In each of these venues, present the you that you want known. If the necessary events and such a…

Can you explain this obsession with locality? There's a place for it, but not always. In HN I've seen it used as a sort of artificial or unorganic "going back to the roots" kind of thing. My local newspaper is boring, because nothing happens in my small city. There's no Nexdoor. There are very few if any local events. You can create a youtube or tiktok account and get your message spread to a wider range of people an…

Think about it this way. Most ideas are garbage. But people are always looking for good ideas. If your ideas can’t hack it in the local scene, that’s to everyone’s benefit that only a small local audience has to deal with your rubbish. But if you rush your ideas to the global audience, you’re adding to a huge trash pile. Even if your ideas are good at this point, you are still going to need boosters in order for them to be found - and when they’re not you’re contributing to the burying of good ideas. That’s why you should start in the local community.

On a more personal note. If you think you community sucks, change it. Easier said than done, I know, but the alternative, resignation such as you have displayed, is repulsive.

Re: Ask HN: How to start a public identity from scratch in late 2022?

#13
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain this obsession with locality? There's a place for it, but not always. In HN I've seen it used as a sort of artificial or unorganic "going back to the roots" kind of thing. My local newspaper is boring, because nothing happens in my small city. There's no Nexdoor. There are very few if any local events. You can create a youtube or tiktok account and get your message spread to a wider range of people an…

Think about it this way. Most ideas are garbage. But people are always looking for good ideas. If your ideas can’t hack it in the local scene, that’s to everyone’s benefit that only a small local audience has to deal with your rubbish. But if you rush your ideas to the global audience, you’re adding to a huge trash pile. Even if your ideas are good at this point, you are still going to need boosters in order for them…

Interesting theory but I ultimately disagree. I could have ideas that apply to my country on a national level, but not much input for the local scene specifically. I think these are completely different skillsets in fact.

>> But if you rush your ideas to the global audience, you’re adding to a huge trash pile

You're expecting too much altruism here. I don't care if "I'm adding to a huge trash pile".

>> the alternative, resignation such as you have displayed, is repulsive.

It's more of a lack of interest. Small fish in a big pond vs big fish in a small pond, etc.

Re: Ask HN: How to start a public identity from scratch in late 2022?

#14
post #10
post #7

Here's how I would do it: 1. Use a pronounceable password generator to find a short, memorable name. Like this one set to all lowercase characters: https://www.lastpass.com/features/password-generator 2. Plug it into https://www.namecheckr.com/ (or similar tools) to see if it's available everywhere 3. Buy the .com, .co, any other domain that interests you and register on every social site you can (even if you don't p…

I am taking your advice. Thanks to the LastPass website, I have taken ownership of the powerful identity now known as.. (drumroll please) IDEsTERMANtE Bow before me, nerds.

The advice was to use lowercase only

Re: Ask HN: How to start a public identity from scratch in late 2022?

#15
post #14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am taking your advice. Thanks to the LastPass website, I have taken ownership of the powerful identity now known as.. (drumroll please) IDEsTERMANtE Bow before me, nerds.

The advice was to use lowercase only

Also you don't pick the first one, keep generating until it's something you like.
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